The situation has precipitated since the prime minister’s monthly press conference on Friday.

While it is the usual form for a head of government to defend any minister who is accused of any irregularity, this has not happened in Mr Dalli’s case. On the contrary, Dr Gonzi, while expressing severe doubts on the credibility of the Leader of the Opposition, publicly held back from expressing support or any defence of Mr Dalli.

More, Dr Gonzi said he was still collecting information and asked all those who may have such information to forward it to him.

He did not rule out holding an investigation on what happened.

And, in the most damaging of statements as regards Mr Dalli, Dr Gonzi, unsolicited, pointed out “We are speaking about a man in politics, a minister, who must be totally clean in the way he acts.”

Mr Dalli has instituted libel proceedings against Dr Sant regarding Dr Sant’s allegations. Such libel proceedings usually take months, if not years, to be concluded. But Dr Gonzi made it clear on Friday he does not intend to wait until the conclusion of the libel proceedings (plus an eventual appeal) for his decision. He added that he intends to take his decision as soon as he has enough information on the case, implying this may be a matter of days, perhaps weeks, but certainly not months.

Dr Gonzi’s words as quoted above also imply that it would not be enough for Mr Dalli to win his libel proceedings or for an investigation to conclude that nothing criminal has been committed.

Dr Gonzi added words to the effect that he wants “seriousness to be the hallmark” of his administration. The goalposts of government and public administration have been moved: no longer does it suffice for nothing criminal to have been done: whatever detracts from the public’s perceptions of “seriousness” is out.

This is the avowed doctrine of Dr Gonzi’s administration and it has already been used, The Malta Independent on Sunday is reliably informed, in at least one other decision which has recently been taken.

Even more importantly, in this case, is the way in which Dr Gonzi, while rebutting Dr Sant’s charges against Mr Dalli, still asks for more information from the public. Does this mean, said persons conversant with the practice of Cabinet collegiality, that Mr Dalli does not enjoy the prime minister’s trust, since he clearly does not enjoy his protection any more?

Mr Dalli, on his part, still denies any wrong doing. In his press conference on Friday, Dr Gonzi said that part of Dr Sant’s allegations – that the Iranian delegation missed out of a planned dinner with its former representative in Malta, SMS Shipping, and instead was hosted to a diner at Mr Dalli’s house – was clearly untrue.

Mr Dalli told this newspaper that at the same time that he was allegedly hosting the Iranian delegation to dinner in his house, he was at a private birthday party where there were some 200 guests present.

He also denied having any contact with the Iranian side before they came to Malta and that he never influenced them in their decision to choose others as their representatives in Malta, rather than SMS.

Documents shown to this paper prove that the first announcement of the visit by the high-level Iranian delegation was made on 17 February, much before Mr Dalli became Foreign Minister. Contacts between the Iranian Embassy in Rome and the Maltese Foreign Ministry continued over the ensuing weeks.

Dr Sant, and an article on KullHadd, the Labour Party Sunday paper, had claimed that the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines had switched its representation in Malta from SMS Shipping to the Gauci Borda Shipping Company and that one of the directors of this company is an official in Mr Dalli’s ministry and that the company’s secretary is none other than Mr Dalli’s own daughter.

Mr Dalli countered that these allegations form part of “Alfred Sant’s usual pre-election mud-slinging tactics” and that it has become quite common for a company which loses out of a business deal to threaten it will hint at political interference in what would rather be just a normal business decision.

In a statement issued yesterday evening, Mr Dalli again denied Dr Sant’s allegations.

He categorically denied he exerted any pressure on the Iranian company to hand over its representation from one private company to another.

This, he added, has also been denied by IRISL itself in a letter it sent to Adrian Mifsud, from SMS, in which it told him he could not have any pretension for the contract in question. The Iranian company had considered various agencies to have business with and its decision had been taken for commercial reasons.

Nor is it true, Mr Dalli said, that the Iranian delegation, which came to Malta between 4 and 7 March, had been brought here by SMS and was then “taken over” by him. This, he said, can be shown by a series of notes verbales passed between the Iranian embassy in Rome and the Maltese embassy.

It was also alleged that the Iranian delegation had been so overshadowed by him it had no time left to meet anyone else. This is not true, Mr Dalli said: they could meet anyone who asked to meet them in the extensive free time they had.

Mr Dalli also denied the allegation that a diner with SMS was cancelled and the delegation hosted by him in his own house. He was at a private function at that time, he said.

Nor is it true he had had any contact with the Iranian delegation before 4 March.

Dr Sant is now asking for an investigation. As he said in his speech in Parliament on Monday, he is not afraid of an investigation, Mr Dalli concluded.